


A Taste for Flowers and Dancing

by Jasmine_marie_123



Series: Sherlock [1]
Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: F/M, Kidlock, Next Generation
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-05-28
Updated: 2014-06-04
Packaged: 2018-01-26 22:39:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,388
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1705151
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jasmine_marie_123/pseuds/Jasmine_marie_123
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A Next Generation fan fiction about the children of our favourite Detective and his trusty companion.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Inconvenience of being Poppy

Poppy turned and headed out the classroom, looking around at the other students in the corridor. At least two were cheating on their boyfriends, one other had just cheated on a test, and if she wasn’t much mistaken, Jane Watson was staring at Lucas Matthews yet again. She’d have to speak to her about it, the boy was a slime-ball serial cheat with most likely underdeveloped genitalia which he was compensating with in his personality. 

She slung her bag over her shoulder and strode purposefully over to her friend, touching her on the shoulder so she’d get her attention. 

“Jane, Lucas Matthews, really? You could honestly do better than the likes of him. He wears at least two strong deodorants, and the way he acts suggests some form of overcompensation for a certain lacking in genitalia.” Poppy told her, with a sigh, “What happened about Jake? He’s interested, relatively aesthetically pleasing and he’s pretty obviously interested in you.” 

“Relatively Aesthetically pleasing? I’ll tell Will you said that about Jake, maybe he’ll get his bum into gear and ask you to Leavers.” Jane teased, shoulder-nudging Poppy, who rolled her eyes at her. 

“Jane, myself and your brother are good friends, can you really see any boy passing my dad’s approval even just as a date for the evening. I like your Brother’s company enough to not inflict that upon him. “ Poppy replied, readjusting her bag. She turned and saw Will walking towards them, and the pair grinned, waving him over. 

“What’re you two gossiping about?” Will asked, slinging an arm over both their shoulders cheerily. 

“Well, I was asking Poppy here if she had managed to nets herself a date for leavers!” Jane replied, with a wink, as Poppy rolled her eyes again and the trio headed down the corridor. 

“Oh! About Leavers! “ Will exclaimed, “I know your dad can be funny about that sort of thing, so I spoke to him, and asked if he’d possibly be ok with me being your date, since I’m his godson, and I’m not some strange boy he’s never met before, and he was ok with that. So I was going to ask if you’d want to go with me? “ Will looked over at her, with a grin, and Poppy couldn’t help but to grin back.

She considered it for a moment,   
“Okay, that sounds good for me, and it means Dad won’t scare the shit out of my date, yet again.” 

“That was funny! Remember Winter Ball! Markus Taylor didn’t speak to you again for like a month afterwards! “ Jane's laughter, until she was glared at by Poppy, and she hid her smile. 

“Yes, well Dad likes Will so maybe this time he won’t deduce my date into sheer fear.” Poppy replied, laughing a little. Will pretended to look terrified, but couldn’t hold the pretence up for long.

“So I’m guessing you two’ll be off shopping this weekend?” Will laughed, chiefly, pulling Poppy’s hair jokingly, as they walked on.   
Jane’s phone beeped, and she pulled the phone from her pocket. 

“Ohh, is that Jake? “ Poppy teased, “ Is he asking you to Leavers?”   
Jane blushed, 

“Yes, that is Jake, and maybe that’s what the text is, but I’m not telling you either way!” Jane replied, poking her tongue out. 

“Aha so it is! “ Will teased, nudging his twin as they carried on down the school drive to where John was parked, waiting for them. 

“Good day?” he asked mildly as they all clambered into the car. 

“Well, Will’s now taking Poppy to Leavers, I’m going with Jake Adams, and Poppy pissed off Mrs Jetson by doing that thing where she unintentionally instantaneously works things out and states them, and Someone’s written something nasty about Poppy in the Loos, but judging by the fixed spelling, I think Poppy’s seen it!” Jane said, putting on her seat belt. 

“Well, if they can’t even spell properly, no-one’s going to take it seriously anyway.” reasoned Poppy, checking her lipstick in the window as John pulled out of the car park.

“Oh, well, that sounds like a very interesting day, what was it that your Teacher was annoyed about?” John asked, curiously. 

Poppy sighed, and in a bored voice John found so reminiscent of her father said, “Her Husband is clearly having an affair with the girl in the admin office, you could tell by her hair, and the brooch she had on.” 

“Her brooch?” Will asked sceptically. 

“Yes, her brooch, it was old, obviously an heirloom, but not worn often, as it hadn’t been cleaned in a while, and it’s not what she normally wears suggesting an emotional shift. It had the letters VJ engraved into it, so it’s not hers, as her first name is Maria, suggesting it must have come from higher in her husband’s family, she is obviously wearing it subconsciously hoping that her husband will notice and drop the other woman, and be reminded of his responsibilities.” Poppy explained, with a sigh, as if it were obvious. Jane nudged her, and she started laughing. 

John looked in the mirror at the three of them sitting in the back, and smiled. They’d all raised good kids, he was proud of his twins, and of Lucy who was off at university, and his God-daughter was a smart and brilliant girl, even if a bit too like her father for her own good at times. 

It wasn’t a long drive to drop off Poppy, and she jumped out of the car, waving goodbye as she headed up the driveway, bag slung over her shoulder. As she unlocked the door and slipped inside, she could see Jack sitting at the table, and she walked over to him, and sat down next to him. 

“Poppy!” he exclaimed happily, “ Look what I drew!” he held up the paper he’d been doodling on, “It’s Daddy deducing a dead body and Mummy cutting it open to look at it!” he grinned sweetly up at his much adored older sister, who laughed, and ruffled his hair. 

“Pretty good Jacky! Lovely picture!” Poppy told him, “ Have you shown Mum?” 

“No, she’s not home yet, Daddy’s upstairs.” Jack told her sweetly. 

“Where’s Marissa?” Poppy asked curiously, asking after the au pair, the 4th that year, and it was only June. 

“She had an argument with Daddy, she forgot to bring my special bag to nursery.” Jack replied, concentrating on scribbling once again, what had happened obviously clicking in her brain, as she headed upstairs, knocking on the door of Sherlock’s office, then poked her head around the door.

“Hello Dad! “ she called out, waiting until he looked up, and gave her a smile.

“Ah, Poppy! Good day at school?” he asked, shuffling his papers as he spun his chair to face her.

“It was good, but you might get a phone call from Mrs Jetson from college, I accidentally deduced her husband’s affair, and she got rather mad. I spoke to Jacky downstairs, he told me Marissa’s gone?”

“Yes, she forgot his medicine bag, and the school had to call me when I was out on an 8, she did it last month as well and so she had to go.” Sherlock replied, as Poppy sat down in the spare study chair, “ Your Mother won’t be pleased, of course, but she’ll understand.” 

“When’s Mum back from work? “ Poppy asked, “ Do you want me to sort Jack’s dinner out if she won’t be back until late, you’re not supposed to be using the kitchen, remember?” Poppy teased, standing up and stretching, before heading to the door.

“If you could, that would be lovely Poppy. Mum won’t be home until at least 10, if you can feed him and maybe persuade him into a bath, I’ll read him a story. At the moment he likes pirate stories, I suppose that’s only to be expected.” Sherlock mused, cryptically. 

Poppy rolled her eyes and headed downstairs, towards the kitchen and the frozen fish fingers she knew were in the freezer.   
. . . .


	2. Tea and Physics Homework

Jane slumped into the chair in her room, keeping an eye on her computer, and when Poppy came online she pounced, pressing the call button. A moment later, Poppy’s face flicked up on the screen.

“Hey, Janey, what’s up?”

“The Physics homework! I literally can do one question and that is it!” Jane moaned, wrinkling her nose, “ You’re ridiculously smart, please help!”

Poppy laughed, pulling her hair back into a sloppy ponytail,   
“Alright, but I’m not giving you the answers, but I’ll help!” she replied, “ What’re the questions?” 

As Poppy talked her through how to work them out, Jane’s thoughts ran off about her friend. Poppy didn’t give her affections lightly, she had few friends, but those she had she was very close to. She was difficult, sarcastic and intensely intelligent, but could also be Charming, and deeply caring to those whom she did let in, and she was a very devoted big sister, Jack was perhaps Poppy’s favourite person on earth, and she went out of her way always for him. It was sweet.

“Ok, so you got all that?” Poppy asked, leaning back in her chair.

“Yeah, Just about! Thanks. Dad said I can borrow the car tomorrow? So we can go dress shopping? Are you free?” Jane grinned

“I am after 11, come by and pick me up then! I better go, I’m part way through a chapter of my book!” Poppy hung up, with a wave. Leaving Jane to finish the homework. Next door she could hear Will’s music, she could vaguely hear her parents laughing in the kitchen downstairs, these were the sounds she loved, they were familiar, warming and she would miss them when she went off to university.

It would be the first time she would be away from Will, as in properly away from him. He was her twin, her other half, and although they were not as close knit as they had been when they were small, she knew no other life than having him with her. Oh she knew that things had to change, nothing can stay the same, but with her going away to University, and Will moving out to a shared flat and starting his new job in just over a month, it all seemed to be changing so fast.   
But it wasn’t all bad, she was looking forward to going off to university, it was a new experience, she was looking forward to studying Illustration full time, and to living on her own.

There was a knock on the door, and Will stuck his head around the doorframe, holding out a cup of tea, which Jane took from him, with a grateful smile and a murmured thanks. Will slipped inside, sitting down next to Jane on her bed.   
“So you got asked to Leavers, by Jake Mason!” he teased, nudging her jokingly, “ Jake’s a nice guy, you’ll have a good night.” 

“I know, he’s nice, he’s lovely, but not who I wanted to ask me.” Jane replied with a smile, “But then I think Poppy would have disembowelled Lucas Matthews had he come within 3 feet of me.” Jane laughed, “ She’s probably right, he is a bit of an arse.” 

“A Whole arse and a half rather than just a bit of one, Janey. Trust me, Jake’ll be a much better date!” Will replied cheerily, before taking a big slurp of tea. 

“And you’re going with Poppy! That’ll be fun, her last date for the Midwinter ball ended up with a bloody nose!” Jane teased, laughingly, watching as Will wrinkled his nose at the memory. 

“Well he did try to put his hand down her dress, even Mrs Jetson agreed, albeit grudgingly, that it was a little justified.” Will defended, laughingly, “ It’ll be nice, and at least Uncle Sherlock won’t be awful to me like he is to most of her dates. “ 

Jane looked over at her brother, with a strange little smile, 

“You love her, don’t you?” She asked, curiously. 

“All my life, but I’m biding my time.” Will replied, softly, “She turns down or pushes away any guy that approaches her, so eventually if it’s supposed to happen, she’ll come to me.” 

“And if she doesn’t?” Jane asked, after a moment.

“Then I’ll wish her the best of happiness and I’ll move on.” Will replied, standing up and heading over back to the door, “Goodnight Janey, sleep tight.” He said as he pulled the door closed.


	3. The perfect find

Poppy grabbed her bag, dashing out the door as she heard Jane impatiently beeping her and shouting for her to ‘Hurry the F*ck up!’, waving goodbye to Jack out the window and jumping in to the front passenger seat.

The drive into the nearest Shopping centre didn’t take long at all, and the two girls were pretty soon lost among the frills and lace. Jane found something she liked with ease, deciding upon it without trying on any others.

It was a pretty dress, Navy blue and poofy bottomed, with chain detail as the straps and hanging across the back of it. It was very pretty, very Jane, but Poppy was more fussy. By the time she’d tried on the 25th dress, she was starting to become fed up, it wasn’t usually this hard to find a dress she liked, but nothing at all seemed to fit or look quite right. She sighed, inspecting her reflection in the hot pink dress she was currently trying, and scowled at her reflection.

“Jane, I’m fed up and bored, you’ve got your dress, and its gorgeous, I’ll look for one another time!” She said, heading back into the changing rooms to change back into her jeans and t-shirt. 

“Ok, Let’s just try one more place first, there’s this new little vintage shop and maybe there’ll be something there!” Jane’s voice floated over the door of the cubicle.

“Ok, but then can we go? “ Poppy called back as she opened the door and headed back over to her friend.

As Jane suggested, after she’d gotten her dress they headed down the escalator and over to the vintage shop. As they headed in through the door, Poppy saw it, it was right at the back of the shop, tucked in behind a rail of silky slips. She made her way carefully over to it, pulling it from the rail gently.

It was red, no crimson. A colour she usually avoided, given her name was Poppy, but it was so stunning and striking a dress that any lighter colour would simply not do. It was simple in shape, a full skirt, and a strapless under-bodice with a sleeveless lace overlay.

This was the dress. She was not an impulsive girl in the slightest, but she somehow knew. 

“Can I try this on?” Poppy asked the shop assistant, who just looked up, nodded and went back to her magazine.   
Closing the curtain to the small changing room, Poppy hurriedly changed into the dress, looking into the mirror critically. It fit well, needed a little shrinking in the waist but that was alterable. Then she looked at it again, the whole look. It was so different from every other item of clothing in her wardrobe, but it somehow suited her better than anything else she owned. Yes, she was buying this dress she decided. Carefully she changed back into her clothes, holding the dress carefully as she walked over to the till, catching eye contact with Jane who was looking at a rail of jeans.

The dress was not cheap, but Poppy didn’t even think twice as she handed over her bank card to the girl on the till. There was a definite spring in her step as she took it over to the alteration shop opposite, and explained exactly what she wanted done, agreeing to come and pick it up the next weekend.

She practically skipped to the car, Jane laughing at her, she rarely saw Poppy this way, all happy and skippy.   
“I’m guessing you found your dress?” she teased lightly, as Poppy grabbed her by the wrists, twirling her around laughingly.   
“Yes! And it’s perfect!” Poppy grinned, letting go of Jane and climbing into the car still with a wide smile.   
. . . . . . . 

Halfway home Poppy’s phone beeped, and pulling it from her pocket she checked the message.   
‘Dad : Bring Jane Home, Everyone here. John doing BBQ.’ Typically short and to the point.   
“Hey, my dad says everyone is at ours, so we may as well just go there.” Poppy said, looking up from her phone. Jane nodded and turned down the road that would lead her to the Hooper-Holmes house. 

The prospect of a barbeque was good in both of their opinions, and as long as it was John rather than Sherlock cooking it, it would be edible, Sherlock had a habit of treating it as a bit of an experiment using flammable chemicals.


	4. Shall we dance?

Later on, Poppy, Will, Jane and Jack were all slumped on the lawn full from eating too much food. 

“Never eating again.” Jane groaned, rubbing her tummy, as the other three all groaned in agreement. They had all eaten rather huge amounts of food, and now were seemingly incapable of movement much to the amusement of their parents, who were sitting on the garden bench watching their children fondly.

After a moment, Jack jumped up and ran inside, painstakingly returning with the radio. He approached his father, and put it on the ground beside Sherlock.

“Daddy,” he said, with the seriousness only a 5 year old could manage, “ Can you make the radio work? I want to dance with Mummy.”

With a small smile, Sherlock picked up the radio, setting it on the bench and turning it onto a station that played older music, and Molly laughingly took Jack’s little hands and let him spin her around the lawn.

Poppy smiled as she watched this, and was surprised when Will held out a hand to her. 

“Dance?” he asked, and she cheerily took his hand, and the pair stood up, Poppy laughing as he spun her under his arm before taking her into a proper hold. They all knew how to dance, Sherlock had made sure of that, and as Will and Poppy twirled around the lawn, Sherlock, John and Mary watched, Mary snapping a picture of the pair.

“They do look good together don’t they?” Mary said softly to the two men sat on either side of her. 

“Poppy is my daughter, and I love her, and as such I will be critical of any man in contention for her affections. However I will say, I would approve of Will. He’s trustworthy and he treats her with respect.” Sherlock said, with a mild smile at Mary who smirked at her husband, who simply rolled his eyes.

Their attention was caught by a giggle, as Poppy was dipped, almost to the ground before being lifted by Will, protesting for him to put her down laughingly.

“Give them time,” John said, “If it’s meant to happen it’ll happen in time.”

Meanwhile Poppy and Will had made their way down the garden to the rose arbour. 

“So, Tomorrow, practice for the end of year talent show? That two hundred pound prize will be ours if we can get that song down perfect!” Will enthused, sitting down on the bench. 

Poppy laughed, perching next to him,   
“Well if it means we win then I guess we can arrange some training time! We’ll master it by Friday I’m sure. “ Poppy replied, turning her face up to the warm sun, “ I’ll pop round tomorrow, Mum’ll probably be alright to drop me back if someone could drop me home?” 

“Well I’ll run you back after, anything to win that prize!” Will joked, looking over at Poppy. Her face was tilted up to the sun, her hair tumbling down her back. He smiled a little, unintentionally. She was just so comfortable in her own skin, always just so herself. It was refreshing, so few girls were actually that self-confident and assured. Poppy turned, squinting slightly in the sunlight and shoved him jokingly before standing back up. 

“Come on, there’s a chocolate cake in the fridge, and I definitely think it’s time for pudding!”   
She hurtled off up the garden, Will following in her wake, grabbing Jane as they went in search of the cake.


End file.
